December 28, 2014
Our world is a marvel.
It is glorious, humbling, majestic, and breathtaking. We require oxygen to breathe, water to drink,
and food to eat. We depend on a planet
that has the right climate to sustain, well, life. God could have created a world that did
exactly that and nothing more and it been all in one texture, one scent, one invariable
shade of gray and one unchangeable landscape. We could have been born, lived,
and died in a vast place of blech and never been the wiser. The thought alone gives reason to pause and
reflect on the grandeur we are privileged to behold and experience every single
day. Thinking I would never know the
beauty this world contains sucks joy right out of my soul. Instead, we live in a world that not only sustains
us, but also provides us with magnificent feasts for all our senses. I glory in the work of His hands and the
opportunities I have been given to witness and experience so many different
varieties of his handiwork.
Exploring in the mountains today brought a swirl of thoughts
and emotions to the forefront. I have
discovered that adventure itself does that; it awakens a sense of marvel
everywhere I go. It lights my
imagination on fire. It expands my
capacity to think, breathe, understand and feel. But the ancient, weathered peaks, hidden
waterfalls, blanketing mountain laurel, the very aroma of the Smoky Mountains
hold something special. There is such a
pull for me in this place. Somehow my
spirit instinctively knows I am rooted here.
Silly as it sounds there is a part of my soul that hums when I have the
opportunity to be in these mountains. I feel connected: to family, to heritage,
to nature, to God.
This is the wilderness all of my Cherokee and Appalachian
Shawnee ancestors called home. This
wilderness that sheltered and fed them, that felt their soft tread and heard
their laughter and cradled them from birth to death, generation to generation
to generation. This place they
understood and reverenced. This is where
all of my European ancestors who came to America seeking freedom in the
1600-1700’s (seven of them having fought in the Revolutionary War) settled on
this edge of the unknown and carved out a life by the sweat of their brow. And this beautiful home is where all of these
lines from both sides of my family eventually joined and became one. I can’t help but to contemplate the realities
of their lives. Without disregarding
their joys and sorrows I understand as much as I am capable that their existence
was centered on survival. Work for shelter, for food, for clothing…I now live
in a way that would be unimaginable to them.
Work is still required, but by and large the attainability of the
necessities of life is unprecedented, and yet I also know this is not the case
in numerous places in the world today. This naturally evokes the “why me?” Honestly, I just don’t know. But I feel like the answer is something along
these lines: If I have been blessed with the gifts of time, energy, and
resources then I am accountable to do all that I can for others. To waste away my life holed up in front of a
television or computer screen or spent wiled away in nonsense that has no
meaning and brings no joy or comfort or relief or hope is a dishonor to all of
those who came before and labored so hard that I might have a better life than
they, and an affront to the God who gave me such a life.
I stood in stunning places today. I watched the rain clouds part and the sun
peak through the gloom sending a rainbow across the gorge between the
mountains. I held a hand as we gazed
over the edge of majestic falls. I
smelled the earth and heard the forest and felt the past. It expanded my capacity to think, breathe,
understand and feel. It connected me to
my family: feeling their hands in mine, hearing their laughter, and sharing in
wonder. It connected me to my heritage,
helping to shift perspective and renew and recommit to living up to who I am because
of them, who I am supposed to be, and what I am supposed to do with the blessed
life I have been given. And it connected
me to God, bringing waves of thankfulness and reverence for His handiwork and
greater trust in His plan for me. I
glory in the work of His hands the opportunities I have been given.
